


Breath

by nioka



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Pppfffff, just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-07 02:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nioka/pseuds/nioka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yes, Chiaki is quite the handful, and the funny thing is that she isn’t even trying to be a nuisance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry sorry sorry

The sound of the door reluctantly scraping across the slushy front porch is loud enough for anyone around to hear, but it isn’t as if there’s anyone out there except for one person. One person who, in Hajime’s opinion, has been outside for far too long.

Snow has been falling since this morning, leaving the ground nice and white. In an earlier adventure, a few of the teenagers who inhabited the island had decided to run about, foolishly throwing around the cold solid and knowingly promising themselves a day sick in bed. Still, it didn’t seem to matter at the time— the fun in between the usual chaos had proved to be an improvement in attitude, if anything, although personally, Hajime still wasn’t sure how it was even snowing on a  _tropical island_.

He forces himself not to question it any further, of course, and focuses on the problem at hand instead. This problem being that, while everyone else was yelling and shouting and messily tumbling in the snow, a certain gamer had found herself plopped down on the porch without any intent to leave until she finished the video game on her console-of-the-day.

Yes, Chiaki is quite the handful, and the funny thing is that she isn’t even  _trying_  to be a nuisance. Naturally, Hajime doesn’t actually think of her as a nuisance, but it’s the only term that comes to mind at the moment and, let’s face it, he doesn’t have the widest vocabulary in the world! In fact, at times, he finds himself picking up words from Nagito’s rambles— not that he would admit that, though.

Stepping up behind her, Chiaki doesn’t even make any moves to turn around or acknowledge his presence. Knowing her, she probably doesn’t even know that he’s there in the first place, which sort of bugs Hajime, but he’s become used to it by this point. 

“Nanami,” he finally begins after a moment of hesitation, not bothering to consider any honorifics even for a second. When everyone else had ran inside, he had lingered in the doorway momentarily to remind her that she would need to come in soon or else she would get sick.

Two hours later was not what he considered ‘soon.’

There’s still a silence between the two of you before she finally acknowledges him, pausing her game to glance up at him briefly with a light, “Hmm?” It doesn’t take long for her to go back to her gaming, which causes him to sigh as he reluctantly takes a seat beside her. The ground is cold…

“Aren’t you going to come inside soon?” He asks, making sure that it’s apparent in his tone that it isn’t really a question and it’s more of a ‘hurry up and get your butt inside.’

She pauses once more, and he wonders if that must be bothersome— progressing some to listen, pausing to speak, then progressing again, pausing, progressing— okay, there isn’t time to think about that too hard.

“Soon,” Chiaki states simply, as if that’s the most fulfilling answer in the world— as if it isn’t going to press Hajime’s nerves, but seriously, she probably doesn’t even know that it does.

He presses his lips together in a tight line, finally blowing out a big puff of air in frustration. He watches his breath in the cold air until it quickly fades away, leaving nothingness once more.. “Soon, huh—” Hajime begins to repeat, only to notice that, as he glances over at Chiaki, she’s set her game down, the console resting in between her knees.

She cups her hands close to her face, blowing into them as if for warmth, although really, she already has mittens on, so it isn’t very necessary. Finally, he frowns, figuring out what she’s doing pretty easily— “You have to move your hands,” he instructs, reaching over to grab her wrists lightly, pulling them down gently as if all personal boundaries between them have dissolved— and for the moment, they have.

Briefly, she looks confused, and Hajime questions his judgement, but he tells himself to move on and to recover so that he doesn’t look stupid. “Now, blow,” he says carefully, scanning her face for any sign of disapproval.

Fortunately, it doesn’t come, and instead, Chiaki simply puffs her cheeks out, releasing the air inside of her mouth shortly afterwards. A white vapor— was that even a good word for it?— fills the air in front of her face and Hajime can’t help but smile some at the sight. Of course, he catches himself before she notices, feeling suddenly embarrassed, but he did smile nonetheless.

Once that little ‘lesson,’ is over, he realizes that his hand is still on her wrists and, wow, how embarrassing.. Sliding them off and over her hands until they’re no longer touching, he finds that the fingers of his right hand become trapped in her soft grip pretty easily. Or, rather, trapped isn’t right— it’s more like he keeps them there, curious as to what Chiaki’s doing, and Hajime glances up to inspect her face for any sign..

Nothing.

“Nanami?” He’s starting to get embarrassed again, and it’s apparent in his voice. He really must sound pathetic and weak, but if he does, Chiaki doesn’t comment on it. Not that she ever would, at least, from Hajime’s experience.

It’s quiet once more until finally,  _finally_ , Chiaki smiles and, god damn it, it sends some sort of sensation down Hajime’s spine that he can’t even comprehend. He’s seen plenty of people smile (on a daily basis, at that), and he’s seen Chiaki smile plenty of times before, but now that they’re alone, it feels different.

Fuck…

“Thank you,” she says, releasing his hand afterwards as if nothing had happened between them and that was probably so. After all, the feeling Hajime had gotten was a solitary one. To think that Chiaki felt the same thing would be preposterous, so.. 

“Er, it’s no big deal,” he manages, shrugging and placing his hands flat on the porch to begin to push himself back on his feet. It’s only then that Hajime notices how cold it really is— he must have gotten distracted in between his interactions with Chiaki— and so he shudders once he’s up, frowning again. “It’s cold,” he states stupidly, looking around and then finally back to the door. “We should go inside. I can make us some hot chocolate, if you want.”

He’s almost one hundred percent sure that she’ll tell him, “Later,” and it will be left at that, but she doesn’t, and  _when_ she doesn’t, Hajime is left with some sort of confidence. It doesn’t last long, but for the moments that it does, he reaches down to hold his hand out to her, offering a way up. 

After clutching her console in one hand, Chiaki takes Hajime’s hand with her other, pulling herself up. He figures that she’ll release his hand (he doesn’t know why, really), but she doesn’t, and it makes him feel warm all over again, as if the sudden cold environment around them has disappeared.

Before he can pull his hand away, or anything like that, she’s adjusted so that they’re actually  _holding_ hands, and it isn’t just the remains of him helping her up anymore, no, it’s more than that and, really, why him, why now, he’s so embarrassing and embarrassed and—

“Hinata-kun, let’s make hot chocolate when we get inside. It really is cold..” Hajime wonders if she had been considering saying that for a while. Once, Chiaki had told him that she often had to take time to process what she wanted to say next because she was a bad conversationalist, but.. maybe he was simply assuming? Still, the thought fills his chest with some sort of hope, if you can even call it that, and he shrugs, laughing sheepishly and nodding.

“Yeah, sure, if you want to—”

“I do.”

“O, okay,” Hajime says dumbly (kicking himself in his mind for it, too), and without another word, he leads Chiaki inside and out of the cold.


End file.
